rattle,rattle,rattle...

That's the sound the last few brain cells I have left are making. Hubby has been a work trip the last two weeks. He arrives home tomorrow night, I might make it. Why rattle rattle? Igor's constant chatter. The. Kid. Talks. Non. Stop. All. Day. Long. Even Sonny Boy who can talk the ears off of an elephant declares it too much. It's bad when the eldest can't wait for the little one's bedtime and your both watching the clock. Happily Hubby learned his lesson teaching kids to tell time with the first one so I sneak Igor into bed 10 or 15 minutes early. I wasn't so lucky with Sonny Boy at that age. You see Hubby taught Sonny Boy to tell time, or at least read the numbers on a digital clock. If you tried to put him to bed at 7:59 that wasn't going to fly and all hell would break loose. The weekend was miserably long. Saturday we spent at the little cake competition. I didn't get squat. The cakes that won were nice so I don't feel like was cheated or anything. I do have to wonder at their pick of judges though - the traffic girl on the local tv news probably doesn't know the difference between buttercream and fondant, so I would have like to seen judges that might have been a little more schooled on the difficulty of technique. I'll post a pic, but not in this post since blogger hates me adding pictures and putting them in the text where they actually make sense. Sunday was even longer. I just wasn't up for the fight of getting the kids dressed presentably and off to church, cripes I had done it alone for 6 days of the week already and needed a break. Igor was in pajamas until 2:00 pm. Pajamas or not didn't stop the craziness and Igor was trying some break-neck stunt urged on by his brother somehow managed to hit the living room floor face first, cutting his eyebrow on his glasses and bending the glasses to a shape no longer recognizable. Thankfully Wally world's optical shop was open and bent the glasses back into a decent shape, they are still wonky but I've got to get off of my rear soon and get some new ones for him as he has a slightly different Rx. After reading the kids the riot act the rest of the day it finally sunk in to them that Momma wasn't playing around any more and we better straighten up. This week hasn't been too bad, though I'm surely tired of bearing the brunt of the family weight and have declared that Saturday will be my day off. Igor went back to the ortho on Tuesday and they declared him offically healed. He still is a little gimpy but it's simply lack of strength, muscle atrophies quickly when not used. Igor will go again next week to be fitted for SMO's I imagine they'll be similar to the link, though I hope more customized than those, I just couldn't find a good picture. The SMO's should help with his balance which always seems iffy and honestly his ankles look like they should be painful when walking, though he never complains. The hope that the SMO's will help strengthen his ankles and help everything to grow into alignment. I suppose I should scratch up some supper. Though I am thinking of a night out - maybe Chinese?

Family Vacation

Well we went on a Family Vacation, a semi-big one that involved planes, buses, and rental cars, thankfully no trains. Hubby had been scheduled for a while to go down to Melbourne FL for some training, I had declined to go due to school and I really didn't think the weather would be that great there. Old man winter though had been mean to me and a couple of weeks ago I decided to go. Due to my ill timing we could not get tickets on Hubby's flights so I ended up with Hubby on the flights right after mine on the way down and just after his on the way up. We took the kids. Not really a good idea, read more about that here. However it was some good memories for the kids. We did spend a day out on the beach and the only pictures taken are on my phone and I'm not technologically gifted enough to get them off. Despite the boys and I being coated liberally in SPF 50 several times during the day, I got NO sun at all, Sonny Boy turned brown as a little indian, and Igor turned pink.

Since Blogger won't let me re-arrange the pictures these are a little out of the order I would prefer. Our last day is first, the next to the last day is second.

Before we headed out we went to Merritt Island National Wildlife refuge. Hubby and the boys on the nature boardwalk.

We saw some manatees, but they don't photograph so well, I like this one that was in the airport as she's fancier.

Lots of birds. This is a blue heron (I think)

We saw quite a few alligators as well. We saw several bigger than this one, but he posed the nicest for the camera.

On Thursday we went to JFK space center....

and the kids met astronaut John Blaha

I have to admit I didn't really know who he was other than an astronut until I just googled him to give you a link. Wow, what an impressive resume. I knew astronauts were accomplished people but that man has some extreme brain power in his head.

the kids also met this astronaut -likely just some random shmuck in a costume but they liked him.

Rode a moon buggy

and waited on big brother while he was sent in the ride with a friendly Canadian family. Kids had to be 44" tall to ride. Igor measured up at 42". I had been told this was the coolest thing at Kennedy and I wanted Sonny Boy to be able to do it. I didn't quite know what to do so we went to a briefing thing that told all about the current space missions, Igor was less than impressed with that, Sonny Boy was bored but behaved. Anyway while ignoring Igor's whining the idea came to me to find a family with a bunch of kids and ask if Sonny Boy could ride with them. Yes, I sent my child into a building with complete strangers the say "eh" at the end of every sentence, but what do you do? They were very nice though and took Sonny Boy right in with them while Igor and I waited at the exit. Sonny boy came out thrilled and agreed it was the best thing at Kennedy. Too bad Mom didn't get to ride.

At Kennedy there is the visitor center where all the above stuff is and then you get on buses to move around in the secured areas. The took us to an observation platform that was as close as the public could get to the launch pads (about a mile) I'm impressed my camera took such a good picture, of course it's as zoomed in as it gets and I had steadied it on a railing. The space shuttle is on the pad, if you look close you can see the white and brown tips of the solid rocket boosters. The "orbiter" or as you and I call it the shuttle is behind a sheild to protect it until 24 hours before lift-off. This will be the next to the last space shuttle mission before the space shuttles are retired and we rely on the Russians to get us to the International Space Station for a while.

I can't tell you what I think of Kennedy. If your into space stuff like Sonny Boy it's likely the coolest place in the world. I thought it was neat and educational, probably would have slowed down a little and looked at few things more closely without the kids but it won't be on my to do list again anytime in the near future.

We landed late on Friday evening. Igor had fell asleep on the plane, and refused to wake up and walk off. Sonny Boy and I were loaded with luggage and I was trying to figure out a way to haul him down the aisle, we had a stroller waiting in the jetway. Since we were the last ones on the plane the flight attendant picked up Igor and got him to the stroller which was great. Off we went, Sonny Boy pushing Igor in the cheap little umbrella I had picked up for travel. Igor was still so out out it he was sitting straight up with his mouth open out cold being pushed through the Milwaukee airport. It was quite a sight.

Sunday afternoon we made a return trip to the airport and dropped off Hubby for a two week stint in Dallas. Yay.

This week I'm busy making a wedding cake. No, haven't been commisioned, I'm entering it in a local cake decorating contest. I about have the first tier done. I keep looking at it trying to decide if I should pull the fondant off and try again. I'm using styrofoam cake dummies. (it's allowed) However fondant ain't cheap, and my inner tightwad is screaming at me, but I know I can do better so I'm having a hard time making the call. I don't even know what the prize is for the contest, likely just my name in the paper but it's a pride thing ya know?

Anyhow back to reality. Florida was nice, sunny, warm couldn't have asked for nicer weather. As I type I hear rain and wind beating at the windows, it's about 34 F. Think I might go back to FL, will you keep the kids?

Announcement of New Blog

You might be asking why do you need another blog? Well to be frank this one is just a simple glimpse into "the Litter's" daily life. Nothing overly personal and nothing controversial or really thought inducing. I hope to make the new blog a little different, a little bit of thought to chew on after you leave, a little more substance, possibly a few giggles. This doesn't mean that the litter won't make appearances now and then, heck without those three I don't have much happening in my life, they are my job, my entertainment, my stress and my life. I'll still keep up with happenings over here but the new one will have a bit of a different tone to it.

http://musingsonmotherhoodandotherramblings.blogspot.com/

The Real Houswife of (un-named county)

Well no news is good news lately. I see from the date of the last post I've been a little remiss in updating but for the most part boredom and mayhem rule the days. I can't imagine Bravo showing up anytime soon and offering to follow me around and tape. Most days I don't have on make-up, somedays it's noon before I comb my hair, and I haven't been in a screaming match with anybody but my husband or kids since high school. Yeah not much real about those Housewives.

I have a horrible case of cabin fever a.k.a. spending too much time with my children. Igor and I have been stuck at the hip (almost literally) since he broke his leg. The weather is in that season that should be called MUD and too cold to do anything but too warm for snow. Mud season also coops up Sonny Boy when he's home as well. Yuck. The boys have been watching too much T.V., too much Wii. Literally their speech is leaning toward the yelling side at all points even when sitting inches from each other or me and having a simple conversations. My ears crave quiet, so much so that the few times I get to go in the vehicle alone I don't turn on the radio. My own speech has degraded to orders yelled through the house as EVERY sentence begins " MOM..." usually yelled from another room. I need a vacation. I need a wife.

The gym thing is working out well. It's certainly a stress reliever to go move around a little on the machines and have few thoughts other than "I can do three more.." I did get a little more than aggravated the other day as I was watching Oprah and Gayle go camping while doing the elliptical machine and it made me wonder how in hell she made a cazillion dollars. Really camping isn't rocket science but to watching her and her buddy set up a pop-up made me wonder. My other sport at the gym is people watching. It's quite interesting seeing the assortment of people there. Surprisingly there is a large percentage of senior citizens moving around which is good for them. Hope I'm out working the treadmills at 70. I did finish my workout the other day just as the water aerobic class ended. I'll try to be aware of that from now on as I had to wait in line for the showers with all the little old ladies. I was hoping a side effect of exercise would be dropping a few pounds, HA I've gained a pound. Darling Hubby was diplomatic about it when I was complaining stating " it's muscle, your gaining muscle" even though I gained a giant bag of peanut M&M's on the kitchen counter as well.

Igor started back to preschool two weeks ago. He's getting around well on the walking cast now and that's been a great boon to both of our mobility. He slid right back into preschool with no problems at all. Igor's really glad to be back as he'd really had enough of Mom too. Tuesday we go back to the orthopedic doctor and most likely the cast will be removed. If not they'll have to replace it as the the little monkey has picked all the lining out as far down and his little fingers will reach.

Sonny Boy has been a little bit of a pill lately too. Grounded more than not. I don't know if my tolerance is down or if he's more wound up. Everything seems to be a case of frenetic activity for no apparent reason.

I do have hope that Mud season will soon morph into Spring though. I can see the very tips of the daffodils breaking through the soil in the flower bed by the back door. I have several projects planned for the yard this year, the least of which is to take pictures of the bulb beds when in bloom so I can add to them in the fall. I planted around 50 daffodil last fall but it was just kind of a random wandering through the yard and planting. The guy that lived here before us planted TONS of tulips, the flower beds were just gorgeous the first couple of springs we were here, but squirrels and time have done their damage and only a few meager tulips have bloomed the last few years. I expect few to none this year. I suppose it wouldn't kill me to plant a few tulip bulbs, however they are fairly expensive only to get a year or two of good blooms out of them. I like to spend money on things that will bloom year after year. I've also got to get some grass planted in some bare spots. The list is long and my enthusiasm runs low after a few weeks.

I suppose that's all for now, stay tuned for another exciting episode.

Another Day, Another Cast

Today we went back to the ortho doctor. Igor's red cast was removed and he was x-rayed. The doc said that the pins could be removed which had been the plan so that was good news. Igor was fine through the cast removal, actually giggling because the cast would vibrate as the the cutter went through it and it tickled him. He was a little concerned to see the pins sticking out of his leg (as was I) but other than a little aprehension was fine up until the time of the actual pin removal. Prevously I had asked how painful this procedure would be, as honestly I couldn't imagine pulling metal wires out bone to be anything but pretty painful. The doctor had said it's painful but not night-marish so I had prepared by giving Igor a dose of heavy pain meds before we left for the doctor. I think it helped, he was nervous, but I think the drugs helped him relax and recover quicker from the pin removal. I stayed right in his face rattling nonsense to distract him. He did cry and let everybody know that "That HURTS" but all in all did really well and settled down quickly for the actual recasting procedure. This time Igor has a green cast and wants me to paint yellow on it so it can be a "Green Bay Packer" cast. I must start looking for some yellow duct tape as I don't think most paint will stick to that fiberglass. The good news is that Igor can now bear weight on the leg and has little velcro sandal. Yay!!! In the house his mobility wasn't too much of a problem, he really just crawled wherever he wanted to go with the exception of the last four days. Igor had taken up hopping on his good foot and was getting quite good getting around that way. The problem you ask? Well we live in a 120 year old house, a child constantly jumping around on one foot rattling everything is enough to drive even the most calm person insane. The cast walking isn't up to speed yet and I don't expect it to be for several days as he's lost so much muscle. His little leg looked pretty withered. However he seems to be a pretty resiliant kid and I imagine it won't be long before I'm telling to quit running. The plan is to be in this cast for three more weeks and then he'll be fitted for some sort of boot size ankle/foot brace to help with his pronation. I don't know if he'll be fitted for that immediately or if some time will be give to build a little muscle before fitting the braces.

We have now officially hit the out of pocket expense for the year with our insurance for the year and it's only mid-February. I guess if your gonna hit it, much better to do it now instead of November.

All the togetherness with Igor and being house bound has driven me to the brink. After much thinking I determined that I would join the big gym here in town. It's a nice place with pool, all the exercise equipent you could ever want, an variety of classes, basketball courts, racketball court (not that I'll be playing ball) and most importantly a daycare that Igor can hang out in for a couple of hours while I excercise. I have to pay a little extra for the daycare but it's pretty minimal and I conserve it and go when Hubby is home sometimes. The excercise will be good for me. I've gained ALL the weight and then some I lost when we were in Ukraine and frankly I huff and puff doing some of the simplest stuff now. It's time, I'm edging closer to the big 4-0 and after that momma always said it was 'patch, patch, patch.

Sonny Boy is doing well. Hubby snuck in the school yesterday early to deliver cupcakes I had baked for the class Valentine's party (every realize you can't carry a 35 lb kid and a tray of cupcakes all at once?) and spoke with Sonny Boy's teacher. Sonny Boy had been having to finish work at a later time, sometimes missing recess and we were concerned. Mrs. D said things are getting better in the last couple of weeks and she thinks it was just a matter of him learning to use his time better. Easier said than done for a kid with ADHD but we are getting better reports.

Tonight Sonny Boy's cub scout den toured the local radio station that is part of the high school. The teacher that gave the tour let the boys record themselves in the production studio. He pretended that they were a new band and asked the name of their band, Sonny Boy leaned over to kid at the mic and whispered, the kid replied "Sausage" tour guide then went on with usual DJ banter and asked about "Sausage's" newest single and what it was called "Awesome Sausage" then Sonny Boy without a moments hesitation started singing the song " Awesome Sausage" now in case you don't know, this is totally made up 7 year old boy silliness. I must have been beet red because I didn't know if I should be proud that my kid had NO FEAR of talking into that microphone and singing a tuneless version of "Awesome Sausage" or embarressed because it was such a tuneless version of anything. Anyway it was quite funny and I'm sure "Awesome Sausage" will be loaded term for many years to come.

I may be speaking a little soon but we are having warm-up and it's giving everyone spring fever. The snow drifts are shrinking and I am no longer taking my life into my hands backing out of the driveway because I can't see for the snow berms. I know it will be cold again, and we'll likely be shoveling again, but springs in on the way, I can even see the beginning of little buds on some of the trees!

Well it's late and of course the kids have no mercy on me in the morning.

Fess Up!

Ok, I write all this drivel and never have any comments. I know "the Litter's" events are pretty standard family fare. We really are quite the average boring family but I'd really like some comments so I can see who's reading!

I'll allow anonymous comments but leave me a clue to who you are if you don't link me back to your blog or if you don't have a blog.

The little map in the corner shows me who most of my visitors are and from that I can deduce who most of you are. Mrs M.M. and Miss M.G. I believe are a couple of my log-ins, my mother-in-law, maybe Ms. KLB in Nebraska? If that's not you tell me who you are!

However the most curious person following the blog along lives in Ecuador. I don't have a clue who that is. Would you leave me a message? Mostly curious if we have a connection somehow or if you just like to read my rambling. If you don't write English (like you use a translate for the blog) write it in Spanish, I can use translate too.

SNOW! and other adventures

On Tuesday afternoon we received an e-mail stating that school would be cancelled on Wed due to the weather. Sure it was snowing on Tuesday, but no big deal for Wisconsin, we had gotten 2-3 inches during the day. Blizzard warnings were to go into effect at 3 pm and I think mother nature was watching her clock as that is when the winds started picking up. At 11:00 pm I could not see my neighbor's house across the street. We woke up to around 2 FEET of snow. The official tally in our town was 17 inches, however that only started from midnight Wed and it was impossible to measure accurately due to drifting. Some drifts were well over 5 feet.

This was our driveway on Wed morning. Yes that is a full size mini-van buried over the hood.

You can see here the snow did some strange vortex effects around the van & house and the pavement was bare.

Sonny Boy had a hard time getting down the back door stairs before we shoveled. He got stuck in a drift 2-3 times and gave up and went inside. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up by Hubby and I.

That's me pushing the snow blower (yes there really is one in the picture) through the driveway snow berm.

A different angle of the same motion. You see there is still several inches of snow on the ground where I had been already, it took two passes to get it cleared to the pavement.

It probably took Hubby and I a good 2-3 hours to clear our driveway and sidewalks - a thirty minute job with snow blower in a moderate 4-6 inch snow. We then went over and helped out a couple of neighbors who don't have blowers and I drove/pushed the snow blower a couple of blocks down to a friend's whose husband was out of town and her car was completely snowed over. In total the snow blower ran about 6 hours on Wed. School was still dismissed Thursday as rumour had tell it that there was still 8 ft drifts in the high school parking lot. Today I drove to town and still saw some clean up going here and there. Things are a real mess. Even though it IS Wisconsin and we are well equipped for snow, 2 feet in an 8 hour period is quite the rare event.

Last week Sonny Boy had Friday off for Teacher Work Day or something similar. Igor stayed home with Hubby and we went to Discovery World in Milwaukee. It's pretty cool, but a little pricey. I'm glad I didn't take Igor along for the extra admission price. This is Sonny Boy running the "nuclear reactor" I couldn't help but think of Homer Simpson.

At Discovery World Sonny Boy also lay on a bed of nails. Pretty cool. My apologies to the girl running the exhibit, I'm lazy and don't feel like cropping the picture. I'm sure she wouldn't be thrilled with that picture of herself.

Back View of the dress cake I made to play around. I'm thinking of entering a local cake decorating contest in March and thought I'd give this one a whirl.

It has some rough edges but I don't think it's too bad for a first try at this form, and I was doing it on the fly and cheap so I didn't use some of the same materials I would have for the contest cake.

Igor officially got a big boy bed. This was his first night sleeping in it. He is one proud kid! He had previously been sleeping in a crib with one side removed. He pretty much filled it end to end. We are still in the process of moving clothes from dresser to the drawers under the bed and figuring out what to do with the old furniture. Still some decorating and arranging to do in his room but it has decidedly lost the nursery feel it had.

Life Settles...

at least a little. We haven't had the crazy amount of running that had been happening the last few weeks. There are certainly things still on the calendar but not to the extreme that it has been. Now I can start catching up on house projects. My first project is to get Igor's bedroom in order. I was browsing around on Craig's List and found him a new captain's bed. Currently it's on the front porch in need of a mattress and space clearing in his bedroom to put it. I wasn't really intending to purchase a bed that day but when looking at Craig's List you gotta jump when you see what you want.

Igor is doing very well with his cast. The doctor visit last week showed a remarkable improvement in the alignment of the bone and a couple of evil looking pins that will be removed in a couple of weeks (I'm not looking forward to that adventure, Igor is happily ignorant) The new short cast has made life easier for all. He can now crawl around the house and he is easier to carry and can fit in a grocery cart. Still several more weeks of cast yet to go.

I've been battling a nasty chest cold. Last week on Thursday was the worst and I felt as if I was hit by a truck. Darling hubby worked from home and I crawled in bed for the day. The cold is still lingering but I'm functional.

Sonny Boy got his report card. He is doing very well in most aspects of school, academically great. He did get dinged on things like completing work on time, socializing and those kind of things. EVERYONE of his low marks were easily attributable to ADHD. I can't imagine what they would if he were not medicated. I don't know if he's just goosing around more than he should or if he's really not in control of his actions. It's so hard to know when your not right there to judge for yourself. It might be time to adjust his meds. I will say he's come a long way though, while he's still quite a handful off his meds, he does try to listen and generally isn't the out of control pre-schooler he once was.

Hubby is busy with work. His boss declared Friday 'work from home day' since gas prices started climbing. That's nice because even though he stuffs himself in the office room he's around and can keep an eye on Igor while I run to the store, or pick up Sonny Boy from school and he's around for lunch or the quick odd question that crops up during the day. The downside is that he will be gone for a long stint of training in March. I'm not thrilled with that. He's going to the "big D" and quite frankly I've been there, done that and don't care to do it again. Although I will say March there is more like late May here and we'll still be getting snow.

Hubby has declared himself the "bringer of huge snows" this winter. He was stuck in the giant snowstorm that collapsed the Metro dome in Minneapolis, he was in Arkansas for a recent ice/snow event that shortened his training by a day, and a huge snow storm is expected in the next two days here where we live. He is NOT responsible however for the mess that has occurred on the east coast. While he was on the east coast in October he has not been back since, though I'm guessing he must have left some of his "snowfall dust" behind when I watch NYC digging out.

Well speaking of snowstorms I better make my way to the grocery. While I don't expect to be totally snowed in I don't really want to have to get out in it if I can help it.

All's well

Yesterday was a marathon of stress. Igor's surgery wasn't scheduled till 3:00 pm, but we were scheduled to arrive at 1:30. We spent the morning getting a bath (as I guessed we wouldn't have a nifty waterproof cast anymore) and preparing to spend the night at the hospital since the doc had approved it with insurance and wasn't real sure how in depth the procedure would have to go to do things.

We showed up a little early and the sugery center staff was glad as the doc was running early and they rushed us on through. Yay, can't imagine why we needed to be there so stinking long before anyway. They gave Igor some goofy juice and he was off without a care in the world. 45 minutes later the doc plopped down next to me in the waiting room (I hadn't seen him come in, I was reading) told me he did fine. They did insert a couple of small pins but things went well. Come back and see him in his office in a week. A little while later I was called back to the recovery room and the nurse was just putting his glasses back on. He was calm, collected and a little loopy but not freaked out or scared which was my biggest worry. We hung out in there a little then we were moved to another place for observation for a bit. Since the surgery wasn't as involved as it could have been the doc gave clearance for Igor to leave. Igor was mad about this as he really wanted to spend the night! Well I guess it wasn't a horrible experience for him since he wanted to stay. Either way we were back home and on the couch by 6:30.

The good news is he has a much shorter cast, below the knee. The bad news of course no weight can be put on it AND it's not waterproof like the giant purple one. Bathing won't be as easy now but I've got some ideas, I just don't think I can stand the idea of sponge baths for 6 weeks.

Today my stress overload kicked in and I've not been worth shooting, had a migraine, have a giant zit break-out on my face and have been a knot on a log. Hopefully tomorrow I will be more productive. Igor however has been good, a little sore but not too bad and I've had to enforce couch sitting today as he wanted to be scooting around on the floor. I didn't think that was a good idea just yet as I figured 24-48 hours should be given before he's moving around.

As you know I have no pictures, I'll get pics up of his new Razorback Red short cast up soon.

Mi Vida Loca

Well last week's waiting is over and another's has begun. I realize now I should have entittled last week's post "Running".

My new Kindle came in. It's great! It's logged a lot of time and miles already.

The heated floor mat for the kitchen came in. It's ugly, as expected but Oh so nice when lingering in the same spot to cook or clean.

Went to Igor's second opinion ortho appointment. Not the best news, the doc wasn't thrilled with the alignment and taking into consideration Igor's pronation problems to begin with he thought it needed surgery. Yay (again do you hear the sarcasm?) the doc wanted to do the surgery on Friday, however with Hubby out of town I declared it impossible so we scheduled it for Tuesday. At least 6 more weeks in a cast, thrilling. The impending surgery also required that Igor get a pre-op clearance from his pediatrician. Pediatrician thought Igor's heart murmur -that has always been there- should be further looked into. With some schedule juggling I managed to get Igor into the cardiologist at children's on Friday morning. The cardiologist took a listen and decided he needed an ultrasound thingy. Turns out he has a Bicuspid Aortic Valve. Not an issue at this time but will need monitoring, long term stuff on that is not great news but hopefully we won't be dealing with any of it for many years.

Both kids went to the dentist and I'm thanking the medical bill gods that no issues were discovered there. Igor's X-rays do foretell a fortune to be spent on orthodontics though.

A quiet weekend here, before the storm so to speak. Hubby is currently rounding up all his ice fishing stuff and taking Sonny Boy. I lobbied for him to take Igor along, but couldn't convince him that a peg leg pre-schooler would be fun. So Igor and I are here, not likely to go anywhere unless there is little choice (like the house is on fire) doing mountains of laundry and hoping my fairy godmother of cleaning will show up for a few hours.